2. His starting kindergarten reminds me that I am officially too old to act like I am kindergarten anymore…dang.

It was very surreal to pull up in front of an elementary school today and watch the fruit of my very own loins hop out and scurry off to his first day of class. I am not sad…not at all. Quite frankly, I am thrilled that he has made it this far without me totally screwing him up.

I am very proud of this kid who, at 5.5 years old, is already way cooler that I have ever been or will ever hope to be. He is smart, creative, funny, and caring. Plus, he didn’t cry or have any fear about a new place, new friends or being without us for a full day. In fact, he was so excited about class that he barely paid any attention to us at all.

So it is August at Northland and that means it’s time for Annual Reviews! Not only do I have to endure the torture of the privilege of having my past year’s work scrutinized by my boss, but I get to do the same for my entire team as well.

Actually, this is a great process that allows us to stop for a minute and reflect on how we are doing. It has also been a great reminder to me of a few things:

1. I work for a great organization and a great congregation.

2. I have a great team of people to work with me.

3. I can’t believe they haven’t yet discovered that I am really an idiot.

Let’s hope I can say the same in August of 2009! HAPPY ANNUAL REVIEWS EVERYBODY!

For some reason, the Themed Entertainment Association requested to host their quarterly meeting at Northland. There motto is “Representing Creators of Compelling Places and Experiences”. Basically, these are the people who design theme parks, casinos, concert tours, and other big shows and events.

They wanted to come experience what our team does each weekend, so we put together a presentation of music, video, lighting, etc…just a sampling of a normal worship experience. Afterward, we gave them all a tour and explain how and why we do what we do.

It was so rewarding here and see the world leaders in scenic, audio, video and lighting etc. give us props for our work and even the heart behind it. One person in particular talked about how much she loved the experience and said “This just proves to me that God is selfish.” I said “What do you mean?”.

“He has to be selfish because he obviously saves the best for Himself!”

This came from the person responsible for opening new Disney, Universal and Seaworld theme parks. That blew me away and reminded me of what a great team I get to work with each and every day. I am thankful to God for allowing our team to be in a place of influence with these artists that I respect so much.